


Reverie

by caketoss



Category: StarCraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 16:10:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6335596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caketoss/pseuds/caketoss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kiranis seeks Kaldaris’s comfort in dealing with the loss of his cords and his link to the Khala.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reverie

**Author's Note:**

> Xelaris belongs to atargatisxxelaris

Silent feet padded softly down the cool metal floor of the narrow hall. The ship was dark, unnervingly so, lit only by narrow strips of luminescent green lining the juncture where curved walls met the low ceiling of the corridor. Kaldaris was here, he was close, but Kiranis flinched at what he felt - jolted once again by the realization that he could no longer feel his brother in the Khala. Time after time, the shock of it never seemed to fade, each instance serving to press more salt into the fresh, open wounds in his mind. Wounds that could never heal, scoured permanently into the depths of his soul by the severance of his nerve cords.

Kiranis stopped - he’d reached his destination. The dark metal door to the ship’s main cabin slid open with a hiss, shattering the silence of the night. Kiranis stood still as stone, not daring to move just yet. Gentle tendrils of psionic energy flew with urgency from his mind; tender, probing touches that told him the occupants within had not been awoken by his intrusion. Carefully, Kiranis crossed the threshold of the door, hesitantly drinking in the scene before his eyes.

He saw Kaldaris first, his brother’s broad, muscular back bare and marred with light, swollen scratches weaving and crossing his pale skin. His cords, unbound as he preferred to wear them when circumstance allowed, laid strewn luxuriantly behind him, splaying out and away in all directions from the point they joined his skull beneath his crests. One arm laid bent and tucked beneath the pillow supporting his head, and Kiranis smiled to himself - Kaldaris was laying as he always did as he slept; on his side, arm draped protectively over the one that shared his bed.

The one who, on this night, was not himself.

Kiranis crept closer, eyes sliding over the serene stillness of his brother’s body to take in the sight of his mate - Xelaris. Kiranis felt a pang of unwelcome sadness grip him. At some point, while he’d been gone, Kaldaris had fallen in love with the Preserver that accompanied them. His sadness wasn’t rooted in jealousy or resentment, but rather regret - regret that he hadn’t been there to feel them grow together, nurture the seed of affection planted Khas knows how long before. It had been so long now, hadn’t it?

With a soft shake of his head, Kiranis pushed his scattered thoughts from the forefront of his mind. But his sadness remained - his pain, his aching, the desperate and permanent shroud of loneliness that weighed impossibly heavy on his shoulders, threatening always to crush him into dust. Kiranis shut his eyes, easing himself gently, carefully down to sit on the edge of the bed. The mingled scent of the bed’s slumbering occupants wafted, heavy and potent, against his skin, telling the story of the fevered, lust-filled romance that lingered lovingly yet between them as they slept.

Beautiful.

If only for a moment, Kiranis relished the sweet, joyful brush of emotion that settled firmly between his hearts. Xelaris brought Kaldaris happiness, jubilance, serenity… emotions that his brother, duty-bound and ruthlessly dedicated to his service with the Fleet, had thusfar experienced far too scarcely. It was his time for love, and for that, Kiranis was grateful. What a wonderful thing it was, to meld with a lover so fully, so completely, embraced and bolstered by the glory of the Khala…

Kiranis gasped - his hearts felt suddenly as if they’d been entombed in ice.

Tears, hot and unexpected, burst from his eyes - brilliant blue ribbons reaching and glowing, casting the skin of his brother’s shoulder in a soft cerulean glow. Kiranis understood with heart-wrenching finality that he would never experience the Khala with his future mate. He would never experience that completeness, when someday he found the one he was meant for, to be bound with in endless, boundless love for all eternity.

And yet, was this not also the case for Xelaris and Kaldaris now?

Wrestling back a cringe, Kiranis focused his gaze on the ragged, severed fronds of Xelaris’s shortened cords. She, too, would never again experience the paradise offered in the warm, enveloping depths of the emotional bond shared by all Khalai that yet remained intact. And by extension, Kaldaris as well could not join with Xelaris there, to sing their passionate aria, giving over the voice of their love to join with millions before them in one vibrant, resonant, endless chord. No - if Xelaris was to be his, then he too would never experience love in that way again.

Somber eyes drifted back to his brother’s cords, long and resplendent, fanned out over the dark silken sheets tangled about his body. Tentatively, Kiranis lifted his hand, taking a single cord between his fingers. A flood of warmth burst through his mind to wash over his hearts - a result not only of the potent psionic charge held by the soft, thick strand, but the overwhelming nostalgia that tenderly tore him asunder.

Kiranis’s mind was spirited back, away from reality to a moment in time from over a century before. He found himself locked within that moment, simple and sweet, that shone as bright, as brilliantly as the purest of crystals, in his mind. The scent struck him first - surrounded by rich, verdant greenery, the thick scent of moist, lush vegetation permeated every last ion clinging to the hot, still air. Infinitely fine and bountiful droplets of sweet, clear water cascaded over their bodies in waves, clinging and pooling into dense rivulets that trickled down through the maze of creases and soft valleys of their skin. Emotion was heavy in the air - Kaldaris, exhausted and in agony, trembled on hands and knees that sunk softly into the dark, fertile earth. His chest heaved as his head swam - he had run, far and away from the training grounds, collapsing to the ground once tortured legs had carried him as far as they would go. And this was where Kiranis had found him, had followed his trail of emotions, tightly wound and fraying within the Khala, to this secret spot, deep within the jungle, backed by the slow, steady rumble of the waterfall behind them.

Kiranis knew the source of Kaldaris’s pain - he had experienced the same pain himself. Today had been the first day of Kaldaris’s training in pain tolerance, and they did not introduce them lightly. Physical and emotional, Templar in training were taught to bear the unbearable, to become strong and unwavering in the face of unimaginable tortures. And it was not easy. Kaldaris reacted the way many would the first time being subjected to such training - he had fled, far and away from the source of his pain. And Kiranis had followed. Followed him here, to the place he’d fallen, consumed by his pain in silence. Carefully, Kiranis approached, brushing aside the great, dense leaves that shrouded him from view.

“Kaldaris…” His voice was soft, comforting, borne upon a psionic blanket of tender affection that Kiranis draped lovingly over his brother’s shoulders. Kaldaris remained motionless as he approached and took his seat upon the damp, smooth stone at Kaldaris’s back. Kiranis reached forward, gentle fingers working to remove the golden clasps that bound Kaldaris’s cords behind his head. Kiranis smiled, a knowing, affectionate glimmer dancing in his eyes - as he’d predicted, Kaldaris immediately began to relax into his touch. Since childhood, the singular, sure-fire way to calm Kaldaris in any situation had been simple - to play with his cords.

Loving, careful fingers stroked his loose cords from root to tip. Kiranis gathered them in small bunches, running his hands beneath them as he allowed each bunch to slide through his fingers before falling limply to re-join the rest. Kaldaris’s trembling had ceased, and he allowed his weight to fall back, the points of his crests resting against Kiranis’s thigh. Glowing blue eyes, veritable copies of his own, gazed upwards, exuding a mixture of gratitude and fear, love and anxiety. And Kiranis smiled in return, eyes narrowing as his head tilted sweetly to the side. He lifted a hand, palm glowing a soft blue hue that matched the light in his eyes. Naturally, knowingly, Kaldaris lifted his hand in kind, clasping Kiranis’s hand firmly in his own in a gesture of powerful solidarity. They maintained their grip as their minds instinctively joined, melding and spiraling as one to seek the comforts of the Khala…

Kiranis gasped sharply, eyes fluttering open in surprise. He was shocked by the cold air biting his skin, the unnerving grip of the Void that seemed to permeate every inch of their dark, depressing ship. Kiranis’s mind reeled, it seemed he had drifted off to sleep, lulled gently into its comforting embrace by the methodical motions of his fingers at Kaldaris’s cords. _Kaldaris!_

Kiranis’s eyes flew downwards, a deep purple flush bursting into his crests as his eyes locked on serene twin blue orbs gazing upwards to meet his own. Desperately, Kiranis searched for the words to explain himself; something, anything to justify his presence, his invasion of their privacy–

His mind was stilled by a firm, reassuring squeeze around his hand. Kaldaris was smiling, his aura welcoming and warm. He’d felt Kiranis dreaming, had seen what he’d seen, the bittersweet memory of their joining in the Khala. Again, Kiranis felt warm psionic tears prickling in his eyes. Memories aside, the Khala was gone to him. Never again could they link there, their brotherly bond bolstered and solidified by the bottomless emotional embrace of their brethren.

_It doesn’t matter._

Kaldaris’s words were gentle and firm. Gingerly he lifted himself to a seat, careful to keep from waking his sleeping lover before wrapping his arms around Kiranis’s slender shoulders. His embrace was insistent, charged with Kaldaris’s endless love and warm affection, unbridled joy and ecstatic adoration. His emotions, potent and assured, conveyed to Kiranis beyond all doubt that wherever Kaldaris was, Kiranis was always welcome to call that place home.


End file.
